Thanksgiving is an American holiday (the Canadians celebrate it also, just a month earlier), but we didn't have to miss out on it just because we are not in America. Since there is an abundance of American expats here in Doha, we were able to celebrate with others. This year, Thanksgiving fell at the beginning of the Eid holiday, so many people had work/school off and travelled away on vacation. Our ward (group of church members) organized a large Thanksgiving dinner for those that were in town and encouraged us to invite any friends who would like to celebrate (read: eat good food) with us. We ended up with well over 200. Although there was a TON of food, I felt like I got the perfect amount & enjoyed turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables & pie. Not everyone is American, but who can say no to great food, friends, and a time to be grateful. It was fun to be able to celebrate together.
I hate that Thanksgiving is often passed over or placed on the back burner while Christmas preparations take over. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, and it is a very important holiday for me, especially its meaning, but for me, preparation for Christmas include sufficiently remember the blessings I have and showing gratitude as I focus on them. So, I Christmas decor stays hidden away until after Thanksgiving, which is celebrated by its own decorative reminders.
We have so much to be grateful for this year. We welcomed a healthy baby to our family. Travis was able to graduate with his Masters Degree. He has a job that provides well for our family. We have the great blessing of technology that allows us to keep in touch with family even though we are thousands of miles away. We are all healthy, and we are blessed to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.
*Sorry I forgot to take my camera to our Thanksgiving dinner.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Climbing
We are in trouble. If the wall to wall tile floors weren't bad enough, the stairs are already a temptation. She has already been up to the landing (four steps up) twice. Let the bruising begin.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Ghassan's, part II
We have some furniture. We have a few spots in our home where we decided we would like some furniture. We got a piece of cheap cabinetry for the printer stand that should work well enough. Some of our other pieces, however, we wanted to be a bit more durable than flimsy pressed "wood." After seeing some interesting pieces of furniture at friends' homes, we decided that we needed to check out Ghassan's. We figured it would be worth paying a little extra to get furniture pieces that are interesting and we like and that we plan on keeping for a long time, rather than paying extra for furniture that is ordinary and somewhat durable. We figured that if we planned on keeping something for a long time (aka, shipping something back to the US), we better like it a lot.
We found several pieces at Ghassan's that we really liked, but not being the type of people who make millions in their sleep, we had to narrow it down a little. We got a large cabinet/bookcase, a phone table/bench, a small stepped dresser, a small bookcase, and a clock.
The clock. My (Travis') grandparents had a simple but handsome farm clock that I always thought was so much fun. Well, one of my uncles inherited that, so I need to find one of my own. I had seen a few clocks with Arabic numbers and decided that I wanted such a clock. So, we got a nice clock with a pendulum and Arabic numbers. I may still want a farm clock one day, but this one is definitely fulfilling the desire for a good-looking clock.
The small bookcase. Ghassan called it a fruit basket. It's certainly not a basket, but I could see how someone might store fruit on it. However, we plan to put it in Leoni's room to hold some of her books, at an angle.
The small stepped dresser. Ghassan had two of these and we really liked both. The one that we did not get was bigger and angled the opposite direction. The one we got fits better in our home, and it has half as much glass, which we need to consider at this point. It is made of shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), or Indian Rosewood. The workmanship is very precise and beautiful.
The phone table/bench. We really liked this, but weren't sure of its practicality in our home. After discussing the need for something in the corner to contain our telecommunication devices, we realized that the cabinet (next to be discussed) wasn't the answer we were hoping for, but combining the cabinet with the bench would work really well. The bench is also made of shisham.
The large cabinet/bookcase. The main reason we went to Ghassan's was to pick out a piece made with repurposed, antique wood. Most of the cabinet pieces were big with only a few shelves, working well as a linen closet, which we don't really need right now. This one provides out-of-sight storage (behind the well-preserved, repurposed, antique doors) along with a practical display (toward the top, out of baby-reach) and some drawers. The dark wood is similarly aged wood restored from some other pieces to create this one piece.
All of these pieces are beautiful, well made, durable, and heavy. It'll be a chore to bring them back with us when our time overseas is over, but it'll definitely be worth it.
We found several pieces at Ghassan's that we really liked, but not being the type of people who make millions in their sleep, we had to narrow it down a little. We got a large cabinet/bookcase, a phone table/bench, a small stepped dresser, a small bookcase, and a clock.
The clock. My (Travis') grandparents had a simple but handsome farm clock that I always thought was so much fun. Well, one of my uncles inherited that, so I need to find one of my own. I had seen a few clocks with Arabic numbers and decided that I wanted such a clock. So, we got a nice clock with a pendulum and Arabic numbers. I may still want a farm clock one day, but this one is definitely fulfilling the desire for a good-looking clock.
The small bookcase. Ghassan called it a fruit basket. It's certainly not a basket, but I could see how someone might store fruit on it. However, we plan to put it in Leoni's room to hold some of her books, at an angle.
The small stepped dresser. Ghassan had two of these and we really liked both. The one that we did not get was bigger and angled the opposite direction. The one we got fits better in our home, and it has half as much glass, which we need to consider at this point. It is made of shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), or Indian Rosewood. The workmanship is very precise and beautiful.
The phone table/bench. We really liked this, but weren't sure of its practicality in our home. After discussing the need for something in the corner to contain our telecommunication devices, we realized that the cabinet (next to be discussed) wasn't the answer we were hoping for, but combining the cabinet with the bench would work really well. The bench is also made of shisham.
The large cabinet/bookcase. The main reason we went to Ghassan's was to pick out a piece made with repurposed, antique wood. Most of the cabinet pieces were big with only a few shelves, working well as a linen closet, which we don't really need right now. This one provides out-of-sight storage (behind the well-preserved, repurposed, antique doors) along with a practical display (toward the top, out of baby-reach) and some drawers. The dark wood is similarly aged wood restored from some other pieces to create this one piece.All of these pieces are beautiful, well made, durable, and heavy. It'll be a chore to bring them back with us when our time overseas is over, but it'll definitely be worth it.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Standing or Something...
Leoni after a successful attempt to pull herself from sitting to standing...or just for herself. Since she was about 2 1/2 months, Leoni has wanted to stand more than sit. Stubborn streak-don't know where that came from. She would make her body rigid when we would try to pull her into a sitting position, so she instead would be pulled to standing. We had a hard time getting her to bend at the waist or knees after that. Now that she is sitting alone and mobile (army crawl, which is hard to catch since when the camera comes out she just stops to pose), she is loving climbing up anything and everything that will help get her into a "standing" position. I think that means trouble.
Her favorite position on the couches, which unfortunately also involves tiptoes and trying to reach over the edge
Caught in the act of climbing up dad's bag to get to the garbage can
Right before getting frustrated because the arches of the playmat wouldn't support her wait while trying to move from kneeling to standingThursday, November 12, 2009
Utilities--Gas
So the utilities in the Middle East are done a little differently than in the U.S. The only natural gas in our house is the stove/oven (which is actually a gas/electric combo). I was excited to finally have a gas stove/oven again after years in college housing with only electric. Well, last night, the gas ran out in the middle of cooking dinner. Slightly inconvenient. Luckily, it wasn't anything too fancy, and we were able to finish cooking our chicken burgers in the toaster oven. You may ask, "How did the gas run out?" Well, because nothing else runs on gas, this is where the gas comes from.
Yes, that is on the other side of the kitchen wall. Travis moved the "protective" cardboard boxes for the picture. I guess to shield it from getting overheated?!? Travis has to take the tank to the "gas truck" and get a new canister today. Of course, being Qatar, which has one of the world's largest natural gas fields, it only cost 15 QR (about $4) for a refill, and this is the first time we have refilled it since arriving 2 1/2 months ago. Not bad. I think we'll be purchasing a spare canister, however, in case we ever run out again while cooking.
Yes, that is on the other side of the kitchen wall. Travis moved the "protective" cardboard boxes for the picture. I guess to shield it from getting overheated?!? Travis has to take the tank to the "gas truck" and get a new canister today. Of course, being Qatar, which has one of the world's largest natural gas fields, it only cost 15 QR (about $4) for a refill, and this is the first time we have refilled it since arriving 2 1/2 months ago. Not bad. I think we'll be purchasing a spare canister, however, in case we ever run out again while cooking.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Announcing
Because we only sent out a small handful of announcements, I figured we would post it here also, but we were waiting on our scanner to arrive. So, she is 6+ months now. No big deal, right? (sorry the quality isn't too great)
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